Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2000-83575 (hereafter Reference 1) and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2000-125752 (hereafter Reference 2) disclose a boning/dressing apparatus for processing a carcass of pig, chicken, cattle, etc., to obtain a meat block. Reference 1 discloses an apparatus for securing a pig carcass, with a dissection line rail from which the pig carcass can be hung with a hanger so that the carcass can be transferred along the rail by transferring the hanger along the rail. The apparatus also has a plate with its upper end rotatably supported so that the plate can be turned upward in a plane perpendicular to the transfer direction of the carcass, i.e., perpendicular to the direction of the dissection line rail. The plate has a groove in which the back side of the carcass can be fitted and secured. The carcass is secured in the groove of the plate in a slanted attitude utilizing its own weight. Workers can dissect and bone while the carcass secured to the plate.
Reference 2 discloses an apparatus for taking out meat from the head of a carcass of cattle, etc. The head of the carcass is hung by a chin supporting member having a chin supporting hook and a mouth opening protrusion provided at the upper part of a supporting member. The apparatus also includes a cheek pulling member that pulls down cheeks, clamping both of the cheeks, an upper jaw removing means, a driving device for moving the cheek pulling member, and a driving member for moving the upper jaw removing means.
In the apparatus of Reference 1 for dissecting and boning a pig carcass, the worker can change only the inclination of the plate to adjust the attitude of the carcass while dissecting and boning a pig carcass. Therefore, the worker must perform the dissection and boning while pushing the carcass against the plate with one of his/her hand not holding a knife, making the work complicated and resulting in an increased operation time.
Further, in a conventional art like above, as the dissection and boning process is carried out while the back of the pig carcass is received in a groove formed on the upper surface of the flat plate to secure the pig carcass therein, the carcass comes into plane contact with the surface of the groove, resulting in an increased contact area, which tends to induce contamination of the pig carcass with various kind of bacteria from the plate side.
In the apparatus for taking out meat from the head of a carcass of cattle, etc., of Reference 2, as the head of the carcass is hung by a hanger while pulling the upper jaw and cheeks by means of the upper jaw removing means and cheek pulling means driven by driving means, while dissection and boning is carried out, the dissection and boning work is done with the head hung in an unstable condition, and work efficiency becomes low, resulting in an increased operation time.
Accordingly, there remains a need to provide a way in which dissection, boning, and dressing operation of the meat block with bones can be performed more easily in a shorter operation time, while evading contamination of the meat block with bacteria. The present invention addresses this need.